Thursday, September 8, 2011

So after all that has happened this past year, good and bad, I feel things stirring within me again. I feel the power and utter importance of the Gospel, and it's need to be taken to all the nations. I feel the need to do something, not just dream something. I feel the need to take action, and not just talk about taking action. When will we take ourselves beyond just talking about what we want to do for the Kingdom, and actually start doing them? Oh Lord take us beyond ourselves.

The trailer below is just one sampling of what others around the world are sacrificing for their faith in Christ. It is about the persecution of Christians around the world. You'll even see Francis Chan in this trailer for a second. My friend has been a part of writing the original score for it (from what I've heard so far, is beautiful!). Check it out, and see what it stirs up within you.

5 comments:

What's sad is that this has happened from the beginning of religion - to people of all religions around the world - and continues for all faiths today. Unfortunately, we as humans cling to our faith so strongly yet cannot respect other faiths. I think the message should be more about letting people make their own spiritual choices - ending religious persecution for people of all faiths.

In response to the second comment here, I absolutely agree with you that we must respect the faiths of others. I believe in the freedom of choice, and the freedom for every human being to have the right to believe what they choose to believe. This freedom is SO vital. There is a difference between respecting someone's faith and accepting someone's faith, though. Just because we may respect someone's faith, does not mean we need to accept what they believe. Now, I am not of the mindset that we should form picket lines when someone believes differently than I do. We've all see that, and it's crazy. I believe we can cling to our faith without fail, and yet respect those of other faiths. As a Christian, the Gospel tells us to share our faith and take it to the ends of the earth. If we don't do this, we are hypocrites and not true Christians. Having said this, the bible says we are to take the Gospel to all the nations, but we are not to force it on all the nations. We must share what we believe to be truth with unfailing love and honesty. Unfortunately, there have been many throughout history that have persecuted others for their beliefs. There have been many Christians that have done this. But at the end of the day, no matter how frustrating it is to me that there are so many people out there doing and saying heinous things in the name of Christ, I remind myself that my faith is not in any Christian. My faith is in Christ alone. It is His words and His example I follow. And as for the message that this particular documentary is conveying, it is what it is. Not every documentary needs to reach out to every people group, culture and religion. There are some that do that. But this is what journalism is....often taking the real life stories of people that share one common goal or struggle. And it is fairly well known that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. You can research this in the history books and online. It is everywhere. The statistics aren't lying. And I think that this is one of the things that this documentary is trying to focus on. Of course, there is no denying that people of other faiths are also persecuted. You are absolutely right. Christianity just tends to take the cake, unfortunately, and for that reason, we see documentaries like this one.

that's canon andrew white that's shown several times in the video above. he was at our church several months back and had some incredible stories of what God was doing there despite the persecution. thanks for sharing, powerful video!